Shan-kun, my friend, I'm so glad you agree with me on Kadota fitting the trustworthy-older-brother figure!
Drew the Seagull, thank you, you don't get bonus points because I said so, and as for Izaya, well, give it a couple more chapters before you start to feel too bad for him.
Azlea, you have no idea how happy it makes me that my story made your day! And I think it's hilarious that you named the plague after him!
Quick side note: in some fandoms I write for, some authors borrow each other's OCs for oneshots or tie-ins or whatever, but I haven't seen any of those in DRRR. Does this fandom not do that?
Disclaimer: let's see, this chapter…I own Arlua. I'm considering pretending I don't own Natsuki. And I certainly haven't managed to gain ownership of DRRR since yesterday, so yeah.
"Right about what?" Arlua jumped and twisted to stare up at the tall blond standing over her. Kadota just nodded.
"Hey, Shizuo," he greeted the bodyguard.
"What're you doing here, Shi?" Arlua asked, smiling at him. The blond shrugged, then turned to Kadota.
"Hey, Kyohei, have you heard about the girl who kissed the flea?" he growled. "I don't see why anyone would let that louse get that close to them." Kadota thankfully didn't look at Arlua when Shizuo said that. The technician, of course, was blushing again, and hoping that Shizuo wouldn't notice.
"I heard rumors that something like that may have happened," Kadota answered calmly. Shizuo growled. Arlua scrambled for a different topic to bring up before Shizuo got angry from the mere thought of Izaya.
"Shi, have you seen Natsuki recently? She's been kind of upset and hasn't really told me why," Arlua told him, hoping he would latch onto the non-flea-related-topic. Which he did. Sort of.
"She called me a couple days ago, said you had something to explain. She said it had something to do with the flea. Did something happen?" Shizuo asked. Arlua hesitated. She couldn't lie to her best friend…but she didn't want to tell him about kissing his worst enemy, either.
"Well…he dropped by SupportTech on Sunday, when Natsuki and I were there, and he said some stuff…mostly to irritate her, I think," Arlua explained carefully.
"Like what?" her friend demanded. Arlua glanced at Kadota, who was watching her, gaze steady.
"Like…he mentioned her father, and it really set her off. And he corrected something she said before she realized he was there," the technician told the bodyguard.
"Her dad…" For a moment, Arlua hoped that he would focus on that. Maybe he would forget the fact that Arlua wouldn't be the one who would have to explain what Izaya said about Natsuki's father. "I'll have to ask her about that. Anyway, what was the stuff you're supposed to explain?" he asked. Arlua sighed.
Crap…
"Well…" She caught Kadota's gaze, silently asking for help.
"Your explanation, your call," the brown-haired man murmured. Arlua nodded and sighed.
"Let's…go outside, Shi," the technician suggested. Shizuo frowned and followed her out into the street. Once they were away from the building, Arlua moved to a more open section of the street.
"Well?" Arlua struggled to think how to explain…how to tell him…
I guess it would be best to just get it over with, she decided finally.
"I kissed Izaya Orihara," she blurted out. Shizuo continued to frown down at her.
"What?" he said blankly, unable to even comprehend what she had just said. Why would she kiss the flea? Why would she let him get that close? Why would…wait… "That…the rumor about someone kissing the flea in Shinjuku…that was you?" He stared at her, brown eyes wider than she had ever seen them, tinted blue sunglasses sliding down his nose, hands limp at his sides. He swayed slightly. "You…you and the flea…"
"It's not like that," she said quickly. "He just wouldn't shut up, and that was all I could think of." Before either of them could say anything else, Shizuo's nose wrinkled as though he could smell something unpleasant.
"I'm hurt, Lu-chan.~ Kissing someone just to shut them up is mean,~" Izaya's voice practically purred in her ear.
"IIIIIIZAAAAAYAAAA!" Shizuo roared and reached around Arlua, trying to grab his longtime enemy, but the informant just laughed and darted around the technician. Arlua ducked out from between them and found herself face to face with Kadota.
"Come on; let's go," he urged. Arlua nodded and followed him away from where Shizuo and Izaya were now fully engaged in their usual destructive routine. "You need a ride anywhere? The others should be done with their manga release thing by now." Arlua shook her head.
"I actually just came here to put distance between myself and…"
"Izaya? Yeah, trying to avoid him never works out well once he decides that you have something he wants," Kadota sighed. Arlua grimaced.
"Great…"
"Lu-chan, come with me!~" Arlua yelped as Izaya's hand grabbed hers and pulled her down s side street she hadn't even noticed she was walking past, away from Kadota and the still-enraged Shizuo.
"IZAYA!" the blond shouted.
"Let go of me, you cretin!" the technician muttered. Izaya looked over his shoulder, still pulling her down the side street, and she realized that he wasn't smirking at her like usual.
"I need to discuss something with you, Lu-chan, and I would rather not have to dodge vending machines while I do it. So if you don't mind…please stop protesting and just go along with it." His tone was still rather snide, but something told her he was being serious.
Of course, that means he probably found out what I did…and that's probably what he wants to talk about. If I were really as sane as I would like to believe, I would find a way to get away from him and go back to Kadota…
But a few moments later, when Izaya left the side street and darted down a different road, Arlua was still with him, no longer being dragged along, but running beside and a half-step behind him.
"All right, Izzy. Let's get off the street. Then you have until Shi finds us and beats the crap out of you," she told him.